Music has always played an important role in Funeral services. Browse our sheet music and scores, and let Stretta help you find the right music today.
Since the 13th century, clergymen have gathered in calendar brotherhoods on the calends, the first days of each month, to remember their deceased brothers. As at the funerals themselves, there was extensive singing. Later, choirs emerged from this ritual, to perform motets at funerals, in church or at the grave.
In addition to settings of Requiems, the Dutch composers of the 15th and 16th centuries wrote funeral motets to commemorate princes and rulers, which continued to spread across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, with settings such as Handel’s Funeral Music for Queen Caroline, Musical Exequies by Heinrich Schütz and Purcells’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary. This began to expand into the secular world with works like Monteverdi’s Lamento d‘Arianna.
In France, the Sarabande was the most popular lament before the funeral march developed in the late 18th century. In the last century, new works such as dirges and epitaphs have entered the repertoire as expressions of mourning and grief.
Nowadays, pop or rock songs are often played at funerals. Here is a list of popular modern songs for funeral ceremonies:
16-part Mixed Choir
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 380350
for: 2 pianos
2 music scores
Item no.: 349929
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 580377
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 395390
for: Voice [choir (one voice)], piano
Piano score
Item no.: 149704
Comfort and Hope in Song
36 old and new songs
for: Mixed choir (SATB/SAB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 419513
Funeral motet
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 280492
Arranged for organ
With hammond registration.
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 277004
for solo cello
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 752734
from 'Scenes of Childhood'
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 752831
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 673610
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 189778
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 478995
for: Mixed choir (SSATTB); 6 melodic instruments (colla parte), double bass, organ ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 231848
for: Organ, strings
Score
Item no.: 388538
Klassik
for: Trumpet in C and Organ
Book
Item no.: 484058
for: 2 recorders (AT)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 157105
for: Clarinet, piano
Book
Item no.: 183632
for: Mixed choir (SATB), basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 4184
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 388531
for: Piano
Item no.: 284280
for: Organ (manuals)
Music score
Item no.: 632901
for: Mixed choir (4–7 parts) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 119460
for: 1–2 melodic instruments (C), piano [organ]
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 378300
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 274129
for: für Tenor, Bariton, Männerchor (oder 3 Männerstimmen) und Orchester
Study score
Item no.: 113340
for: Mixed choir (SATB), basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 4554
Ergreifende Trauermusik
for: Flexible wind ensemble (4 voices)
Set of parts
Item no.: 960612
Original works and arrangements for church service and concert
for: Melody instrument (C/B-flat/E-flat/F), organ
Organ score, 4 solo parts (C/B-flat/E-flat/F) (anthology)
Item no.: 608128
Easy Arrangement for Piano
for: Piano
Single edition
Item no.: 740262
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 477533
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Conductor score
Item no.: 301588
for: Organ (manuals, ped. ad lib)
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 630821
for: Women's choir (SSAA), piano [organ]
Score
Item no.: 323235
for: Organ
Music score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 660466
for: Organ manuals [harmonium]
Music score
Item no.: 366878
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 750380
for Guitar solo
for: Guitar
Single edition
Item no.: 750804
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Score
Item no.: 244524
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 246024
for: Viola, organ
Item no.: 624462
Lascia ch'io pianga; Ombra mai fù
The Recorder Orchestra
for: Recorder ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 632909
for: 2 guitars
Item no.: 181722
arranged for two trumpets in B-flat and piano
for: 2 trumpets (B-flat), piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 488744
for: Voice, piano [guitar/keyboard]
Single edition PVG (Piano/Vocal/Guitar)
Item no.: 635547
includes, besides the original version, a version with a smaller orchestra
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Score
Item no.: 667224
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 670140